Inman Valley, South Australia
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Inman Valley is a locality in the Australian state of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
located on the
Fleurieu Peninsula The Fleurieu Peninsula ( ; locally mainly ) is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide. History Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western s ...
about south of the state capital of
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
. The valley is about in area. At the 2016 census, Inman Valley had a population of 343.


Origin of the name

Inman Valley, and Inman River, was named through association with Inspector Henry Inman, founder and first commander of the South Australia Police, who pursued two allegedly escaped convicts there in August 1838. No Indigenous name is recorded for the valley itself, but two names are recorded for the river: Moo-oola and Moogoora. The mouth was called Mugurank, meaning 'place of hammerstones'.


History

The first recorded Europeans to sight the valley were likely the party that accompanied explorer
Collet Barker Collet Barker (31 December 1784 – 30 April 1831) was a British military officer and explorer. He was commandant at two British outposts for the Colony of New South Wales. Fort Wellington on the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory and a p ...
(but not Barker himself) in 1831. In its pristine state the valley abounded in
kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s, which were hunted for food by early sealers and whalers at
Encounter Bay Encounter Bay is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the state's south central coast about south of the state capital of Adelaide. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his encounter on 8 April 1802 with Nicolas Bau ...
. Inman Valley was surveyed in late 1839 by a party under Senior Surveyor N. Lipscomb Kentish, formerly of
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, assisted by Surveyor Henry Ide, formerly a corporal in the Royal Sappers & Miners (see
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
). They pegged out the sections and also a line of road suitable for drays leading from
Rapid Bay Rapid Bay is a locality that includes a small seaside town and bay on the west coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. It lies within the District Council of Yankalilla and its township is approximately 100 km south of the stat ...
to
Encounter Bay Encounter Bay is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the state's south central coast about south of the state capital of Adelaide. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his encounter on 8 April 1802 with Nicolas Bau ...
, which is now Inman Valley Road. Immediately following the completion of surveys the land was opened for selection and in early 1840 the first European settlers to establish a homestead at Inman Valley were the three young James brothers: William Rhodes James, John Vidal James and Richard Boucher James. Their pioneering endeavours were recorded by Rhodes in his journal. They carved a shortcut—James Track—to their land. In 1858, together with partners, Richard Boucher James purchased the 60,000-acre
Canowie Station Canowie or Canowie Station was a former pastoral lease located about north west of Hallett and south west of Terowie in the state of South Australia. Locality The former Canowie Station was situated midway between Hallett and Jamestown i ...
, where he lived until 1863, when he returned to England. In Devon he purchased the
Georgian-style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...
mansion Hallsannery House in the parish of
Littleham Littleham is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of north Devon in south west England, about south of Bideford. The parish had a population of 446 at the 2011 census. The parish is bounded by the River Torridge in the north-eas ...
, from where he continued his interest and management of the Canowie Pastoral Company until his death in 1908. The other contenders at being first residents of Inman Valley, around the same time, are the brothers Thomas Bewes Strangways and Giles Edward Strangways, but their land was near the mouth of the valley at Encounter Bay. Other pioneering settlers promptly joined them, including William Robinson, the latter being the first to drive a horse and cart over Mount Terrible. Other settlers soon followed, such as John Lush. Although various crops flourished, and sheep were successful, from the very earliest years cattle were known to thrive at Inman Valley and so they predominated. By the 1880s this led to an extensive dairying industry, including butter and cheese production, with a butter factory being established in 1890. Present-day land use is predominantly grazing, dairy farming, forestry and horticulture. The valley area also attracts bushwalkers and tourists.


Selwyn Rock

In the valley is Selwyn Rock () a
glaciated A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires d ...
pavement in the bed of the Inman River. It was first described in 1859 by, and later named for, A.R.C. Selwyn, who was
Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
at the time. Glacial grooves and striations on the polished surface indicate glacial movement to the north-west.
Boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...
s,
till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
ites and erratics are also common in the area, which underwent glaciation during the
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...
(approximately 270 Ma). The pavement of
Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...
and Permian glacial sediments were exposed during the
Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...
when the Inman River eroded the
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
to its present-day surface. A cafe overlooks the glaciated bed of the river, with access onto the rock available via stairs and viewing platforms.


Gallery

File:Selwyn Rock 1.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 1, Interpretive sign at Selwyn Rock marking Selwyn's discovery of glaciation in Australia File:Selwyn Rock 3.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 3, Selwyn Rock – grooves and striations on exhumed
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...
glacial pavement File:Selwyn Rock 4.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 4, Selwyn Rock – grooves and striations on exhumed Permian glacial pavement File:Selwyn Rock 5.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 5, Selwyn Rock – granite
glacial erratic A glacial erratic is a glacially deposited rock (geology), rock differing from the type of country rock (geology), rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by gla ...
eroding out of unconsolidated Permian
till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
File:Selwyn Rock 6.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 6, Selwyn Rock – Weathering rind of large granite glacial erratic eroding out of unconsolidated Permian till File:Selwyn Rock 7.JPG, alt=Selwyn Rock 7, Selwyn Rock – faceted pebble eroding out of unconsolidated Permian till


References


External links


Postcards (Channel 9 TV feature)
{{authority control Towns in South Australia